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As a registered Republican, I can't vote in Democratic primaries, so I try to ignore them. But as a concerned citizen, I see that the three Democratic senate candidates have complained that no one pays attention to them.
They ought to address their complaints to our legislature, which moved the primaries from September to August. In September, we are free to contemplate serious matters; in August, the Colorado mind is overwhelmed by vexations like vacations and visiting in-laws, and has no excess capacity for pondering the future of the Republic and the fate of the Free World.
Josie Heath had one shot at the senate in 1990. Does she deserve another?
The only reason I hear to support Heath is that the U.S.
Senate needs more women, who will presumably devote more
attention to women's issues.
Abortion is the only real woman's issue.
It
should be a medical matter, not a political issue. What you
or I have in our bodies -- be it a fetus or a
non-prescribed alkaloid -- is properly our business, not
the government's.
As for the other women's issues
-- family leave,
day care, military harassment, etc. -- those should be of
concern to all of us, rather than shoved into some feminist
corner.
Can Heath forge a consensus among senators and further her causes? Can she be a senator from Colorado as well as a feminist icon? She has no legislative record, other than service as a Boulder County commissioner. I'd feel more comforatble if she'd been in the legislature or the U.S. House of Representatives.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell has served effectively in both, and I admire anyone who wore a ponytail amid the stuffed shirts in the Colorado General Assembly. But I'm also depressed by his support of the Animas-La Plata project.
Dick Lamm was part of AWDI, which isn't any improvement. Then again, Lamm has always struck me as someone born to be a senator -- he loves to discuss major issues, and the U.S. Senate is the world's foremost debating society.
And in an age of extreme caution, Lamm has never much
cared whom he offends, from stand up, damn it,
to
duty to die.
That's better than a ponytail, and so
I'd vote for him if I could.
Lamm has exhibited other bad judgment, though. I somehow ended up on his mailing list for fund-raising.
The other Democrats must be just as talented at soliciting empty pockets, because they're also complaining about minuscule campaign treasuries, which means they can't afford TV time.
They're upset, but the rest of us should be grateful. A primary among three good candidates, without any slick 30-second sound-bite ads? Poverty has its blessings.
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